News from Opening Bell

Southern California Public Radio (11/28) reports that ED has not yet said whether it will approve California’s new plans regarding shifting to Common Core-aligned tests while jettisoning the state’s traditional assessments. The piece quotes an email from ED’s Cameron French saying, “The Department of Education continues to have conversations with California officials on student assessments. Once the request is received, we will review the application as we would any state and respond accordingly.” The article notes that Education Secretary Arne Duncan has “threatened to withhold billions of dollars in federal funds” because the state originally planned to allow districts to test in either Math or English and not both subjects.